Title: Genesis 5/?

Author: CSIphile/Hipinapple

Summary: Genesis: The origin or coming into being of something.

Thanks: Thank you sooo much to everyone who took the time to review, it makes my day. This is a tricky fandom to write for, so big props to those authors who came before me.  

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One Week Later

Rosario's Italian Restaurant

Olivia takes a sip of her wine and looks over at her dining companion. He was pretty involved in swirling his fettuccini around his spoon so it wouldn't fall off before he got it to his mouth. She laughs lightly when he finally lifts the spoon and half the noodles slip noisily back into the bowl.

They had enjoyed a comfortable silence since the food was served, before they had made small talk about nothing of consequence. Olivia was just glad that she and Elliot had managed to make time to see each other; it had been too long since she'd seen him where it didn't involve her complaining to him.

"How's the new position going?" she asks.

"Good. It's a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it. Hopefully in a few weeks it will be a little smoother going. Right now we still have tips coming into all the boroughs; hopefully that will be solved next week," he says after swallowing a mouthful of food.

"How are the kids?"

"Great! I see them more often now, not as much as I'd like, but maybe more when things settle down. Maureen asked about you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she says hello. I told her you were doing fine."

She nods at him and chews thoughtfully. "Tell her I said hello back."

"Ok. Are you?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you fine?"

She sighs slightly. "Yeah, I think Mike and I have come to some kind of…agreement."

"What? He doesn't talk to you and you don't yell at him?"

She snorts at that. "You're not so far from the truth actually. We…speak when we need to."

"Liv…"

"Don't worry about it, El, I've got him under control." She smirks at the end of the sentence. "How's Kathy?"

"Fine."

She looks up at his short and terse answer. "Doesn't sound fine."

It's his turn to sigh and push his empty plate to the end of the large table. She does the same and turns her attention to him.

"I don't know, Olivia. I thought that once I transferred, it would magically all be better. That whatever problems my marriage was having would be solved because I wasn't in the job anymore."

"Didn't turn out that way?" she asks softly.

"Not exactly. I've just been so busy. Despite that, I'm still home more, which actually means there is just more time to argue with her. I don't know what to do. All these years I assumed that my work was the cause of the trouble with me and Kathy. I don't think it was, Liv; these are deeper problems than I think we both realize. I hid the truth so far behind my work, I'm not sure we can find the real problem anymore."

Without thinking, she reaches across the table and rests her small hand on his, running her thumb across his wrist. "I'm sorry, Elliot. I don't know what to say."

"Neither do we. At some point, we stopped talking to each other and now we don't know how."

"What are you going to do?" The unspoken question was there. Would he leave her?

"I don't know. I feel like we should try to right this, but at the same time, I just don't think anything will help. I'm afraid it's too far gone."

Silence reigns for a long while before he looks up into her eyes and she sees something unfamiliar in the deep blue. Hopelessness, confusion, and regret mixed with something she can't define. Without warning, he shifts his hand and entwines his fingers with hers, forcing them both to put their elbows on the table and move a little closer.

Again they seem to be teetering on the edge of the danger zone, not quite over the line yet, but close enough. But at the minute neither seems to care much, both enjoying the feeling of each other's skin, as minimal as the contact is.

It doesn't last long, however, before the waitress appears to clear the table and ask if they want dessert. The spell is broken and they pull apart somewhat regretfully. As soon as she returns her hand to her lap, Olivia feels guilt flow through her. She felt something when she touched him, some pull to him, a small spark of attraction that had always been there, but was never allowed out. The problem is that in his presence, she can't seem to control herself; innocent touches or looks become so much more before she can even stop it.

In silence they settle up the bill and walk out of the restaurant into the cool New York air. Olivia shivers slightly at the temperature difference between the warm restaurant and the October air.

"Wanna take a walk?" he asks quietly.

"Sure," she responds, and they start walking in the direction of her apartment.

"Are you warm enough?"

She looks at him curiously. "Yeah, fine. Thanks." He's acting odd; his tone is again confusing to her. It's tender and concerned, which she's heard from him before, but just like his expression earlier, it's laced with something she can't seem to put a finger on.

"Clear night," he comments after a few minutes, and she looks up into the night sky. The usual light white clouds that hang around in the winter are nowhere to be found and it's late enough that most of the lights in the office buildings are off, affording an unusually good night to look at the stars.

"Sure is." She pauses for a moment and closes her eyes, trying to recall a long forgotten astronomy class. Finally opening them, she points to a string of stars. "Orion's belt."

He looks at her with a smile and she wiggles her eyebrows at him moving onto the next constellation. "Big dipper." This time she turns her body away from him to point out the next one. "Summer triangle. Hmmm…let see."

But before the next constellation's name escapes her lips, she feels Elliot right behind her, significantly closer then he was at the beginning of the lesson. She can feel his warm breath on her neck and is ready to pull away before he speaks into her ear, sending a warm shiver through her.

"How do you know so much about this?"

Trying to get control of her quickly warming body, she swallows hard before speaking. "I took a class in school. I wanted a change of pace class that would be fun."

Leaning around her- and forcing them closer together, he points to another area of the sky. "Aquarius. The water goddess."

It isn't the words, it is the seductive tone in them that makes Olivia slide into his warm body until her back is pressed into his chest. She knows this isn't a good idea, but she can't seem to stop herself; something else inside has taken over. The part of her that misses being physically close to another person, that is lonely and tired of being that way, the part that doesn't seem to care that not only is this her former partner, but her married former partner.

Falling silent, Elliot wraps his long arms around her, burying his face into the crook of her neck, allowing his lips to lightly brush against her skin. She leans into the sensation and closes her eyes again; never before has such a small gesture sent shivers through her. When Olivia leans into him, offering her consent, he again places his lips against the cool skin of her neck, this time allowing them to linger a bit more than before.

"Cold?" he asks in a husky voice. He had felt the second shiver run through her.

"Not even close." Easily she turns in his arms, looking at him. Now she names the unknown emotion from earlier. Desire, need, want…all of it in one almost frightening expression. Before she can analyze the meaning behind it, he has closed the small gap between them, bringing his lips down lightly onto hers. She doesn't even have words to describe the feeling that is rushing through her at a lightening pace. Without thinking twice, she returns the kiss with slightly more vigor than he had started it. He doesn't miss a beat in returning what she gave and then some, quickly escalating the contact.

Before either of them knew it, he has one hand running through her hair, one of her hands has managed to work its way onto his chest, pressing hard against it as he pushed against her. And the kiss that started tentative and easy eclipses into bruising and lustful.

He pulls away for a moment to catch his breath and lightly moans her name as he does. Something about him saying her name in a wanting tone snaps something in her. The fog of desire that has nicely settled over her, allowing her to ignore the moral problem with what was happening, lifts enough for her to rationalize where this would be going if they didn't stop. And while she wants nothing more than to go down that road, she knows they couldn't…she couldn't. She respected him and his marriage too much. So against the pleas of her body, which was aching for him, she pulls away.

"El, we cant." She leaves one hand on his chest and takes a step back, needing the space.

"You're right. God, you're right." He takes a step back also, but keeps his eyes fixed on her, allowing his frustration to show through.

"I'm sorry, Elliot. I just can't…"

Tentatively he moves back to her. "I know…don't apologize. I should know better."

"We BOTH should." It was a lapse in judgment on both their parts. She didn't see either one of them as being more to blame than the other. He nods in agreement and gestures with his hand that they should continue walking.

"I'll walk you home."

"Yeah…ok." She smiles slightly and continues on the path they had been taking.

A strangely comfortable silence ensues for the remaining four blocks to her apartment building. Both are contemplating whether there would be any ramifications to what had happened. At this point, neither knew what those ramifications would be. She didn't expect a sudden proclamation of love, or that he was leaving his wife, or that he would even call her again. Olivia is more pragmatic than that. Besides, it was one kiss. One unbelievable, earth shattering kiss, but just a kiss nonetheless.

She remembers having a conversation many years ago with him about soul mates coming in different forms; he had dismissed her easily. Now she wonders if she posed the question again if he would again reject the notion. A soul mate is a soul mate, if it's a man twice your age, your high school sweetheart, or your former partner.

Coming to a stop at the stairs, they turn to each other. For a while they just stand there, not sure what to say. Finally he laughs lightly and she gives him a strange look.

"What's so funny?"

"I can't remember a time when we were speechless around each other."

She grins broadly. "No, me either. But…"

"Yeah. But." He reaches out and grasps her upper arm. "Are we ok?"

"We are." The answer comes without pause. She is sure that if nothing else, they can remain friends.

"Good. Look…God, this is one conversation I never imagined having with you. I just…dammit! I want more than one kiss, Liv, and as much as my heart and body wants me to just fuck reason and ask to come up…my brain is telling me I can't."

"Its ok, El…"

He cuts her off with a quiet voice. "No, it's not. If I hadn't kissed you, I wouldn't be feeling like this. It's not fair to you. I can't ask you to sit on the sidelines while I decide what to do." Suddenly he stops talking and it looks like he is contemplating something. "You…do feel the same, right?"

"If by 'the same', you mean I want you with every part of my body, then yes. God, yes."

He gives her a look that tells her he's feeling the same thing. "I'm not going to ask you to wait for me. You mean too much to me for that. But I'll tell you this: I have some thinking to do. I can't promise anything, Liv, but I can't ignore this. I can't dismiss it with a wave of the hand and a 'we can still be friends'." Hesitantly, he reaches up and touches her face, cradling her jaw lightly.

"I understand. Really, I do. You have more at stake here then I do, by a long shot. Take some time, El. I think we are adult enough not to allow this to affect our friendship… right?"

"Absolutely." He drops his hand.

She nods. "Goodnight, Elliot." She leans over and gives him a chaste kiss on the cheek, resisting the urge to move an inch to the right to make contact with his lips. Instead, she moves the other way, letting her cheek rest on his and speaks in a hushed tone. "The worst part of life is waiting. The best part of life is having someone worth waiting for."

Standing up, she gives him a small smile and heads up the stairs, venturing one last glance before opening the door and stepping inside.

"Oh, you're worth it," he says to no one and turns to flag down a cab.

tbc…………………………..